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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Mayor Nutter Takes Inaugural Ride on Spruce/Pine Bicycle Lanes

Mayor Michael Nutter was joined by Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler and Deputy Mayor Don Schwartz and Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski to officially "cut the ribbon" on the new Spruce/Pine bicycle lanes at 21st and Pine Street this morning. After stating how the new lanes will calm traffic, provide bicyclists with a safe way to get across town and help make the Philadelphia more sustainable, Mayor Nutter encouraged everyone (motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians) to follow rules of the road. He then rode down Pine Street greeting pedestrians and motorists as he rode to City Hall. (He even cleared out a truck that was parked in the bike lane!)

These lanes make a world of difference to bicyclists in terms of providing a significant amount of buffered street space. We encourage all bicyclists to use these lanes as often as possible and ride safely so that Mayor Nutter is encouraged to add north-south lanes, and more lanes throughout the City. The Streets Department is also counting cars and speeds to document if traffic is "calmed" on Spruce and Pine.

Roman Deininger wrote a great story in today's Inquirer . We encourage you to post a positive comment on the article's comment section. We also encourage you to send a brief message to City Council about how you are using the bicycle lanes. Check out the Citypaper's Clog post praising the lanes and make a comment there.

NBC 10 is running an online poll. Please take the poll and let everyone know you are "thrilled"

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comments:

I rode Pine St yesterday from 15th down to 10th, and would have taken it to 5th, but that stretch of Pine is SO BUMPY AND UNEVEN, POTHOLE RIDDEN AND DANGEROUS that I thought I was going to need to true my tires afterwards. I took South St the remaining blocks; what a smoooooooth ride.

I'd hope that bicyclists can speak out and the condition of these new lanes is improved. Otherwise, bikes won't be able to really use them, and then the pilot-program will be botched because of poor road-quality.

I agree with Katie about the condition of the streets- they are terrible in spots. It makes my commute a whole lot less enjoyable than when on my usual Bainbridge/Fitzwater route. But for now, in order to show my support for the city's actions, I'm going to continue to use the bike lanes to get from 3rd to 36th every day.